


Let's Play A Game

by QueenoftheNile



Category: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard - Rick Riordan
Genre: Blitzstone, M/M, MCGA, MCGASoS, MCSOS
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-16 09:41:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5823727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenoftheNile/pseuds/QueenoftheNile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki decides it would be fun to kidnap Magnus and watch Hearth and Blitz trip over themselves trying to rescue him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One: Heerrreess Loki!

Hearthstone wasn’t expecting the day to be anything unusual.

 

He was sitting in his room reading, when he got inexplicably restless.

 

He stood, stretching. He turned to head toward the door and noticed his Blitzen standing in his doorway, a worried furrow to his brow.

 

Hearth jumped slightly at the sight of his friend, frowning in return. ‘ _ Something wrong? _ ’ he signed.

 

Blitz shook his head slightly, before stopping himself. ‘ _ M-A-G-N-U-S. Trouble. _ ’ He shook his head, despite an affectionate look creeping on to his face. 

 

Hearth nodded slightly. ‘ _ Where? _ ’ He signed, certain concern was creeping into his own expression.

 

Blitz shrugged. ‘ _ V-A-L-H-A-L-L-A. He said it wasn’t anything that important.’ _

 

Hearth frowned. ‘ _ Okay. Five minutes?’ _ He gestured to the books cluttering the room.

 

Blitz nodded, and turned to leave, while Hearth continued to pick up the books scattered where he’d been sitting.

 

**\----------**

 

A few minutes later, they stepped tentatively into Magnus’ room.

 

Something was off, Hearth felt it immediately.

 

Blitz was about to call out to Magnus when Hearth put a warning hand on his shoulder.

 

The dwarf looked at him inquisitively. There was a very powerful magic set over the room. 

 

Well, they were in Valhalla, but this was different. ‘ _ Something’s wrong. _ ’ He signed to Blitz. ‘ _ Where’s M-A-G-N-U-S?’ _

 

Blitz didn’t seem fazed, but Hearth didn’t trust this one bit.

 

And then Blitz’s head snapped forward, breaking his gaze from the elf.

 

Hearth followed his gaze to see they had a guest.

 

His scarred lips stretched into a sharp grin, his eyes fierce and dark.

 

Blitz was saying something angrily to the god, but Hearth couldn’t see his lips.

 

“Why, the boy is fine, it hurts me you think I’d so quickly dispose of one of my favorite toys.” Was the response that Loki’s lips formed. “However, if you’d like to find him, you’ll have to play a little game.”

 

Hearth glared at the god. He tapped on Blitz’s shoulder. ‘ _ M-A-G--?’  _ He was cut off by Blitz nodding, before returning his gaze to the god of mischief.

 

Blitz said something else Hearth still couldn’t catch.

 

“Let’s start with… This!” Loki thrust his hand up and before either could react, they were standing on the branches of Yggdrasil.

 

Hearth instinctively took his friend’s hand (to keep them from getting separated, of course) as the dwarf muttered some curse that he couldn’t read.

 

Loki lounged about ten feet away, on an impossibly thin twig near the end of the branch.

 

The tree trembled, and Loki said something with an expression that showed he was clearly gloating, before he snapped his fingers and disappeared.

 

Hearth frowned, confused. When he turned to his friend, however, he saw an expression that twisted his gut.

 

Blitzen’s jaw was set tight, his eyes wide, and Hearth could feel his heartbeat in his hand. 

 

The elf then figured out what the trembling must’ve been; Ratatosk.

 

Tightening his grip on his friend’s hand, Hearth used his free one to wave in front of Blitz’s face.

 

The dwarf blinked, before looking up to meet his friend’s eyes. He gave a slight shake of his head.

 

Hearth chewed his lip. He released his friend’s hand to sign. ‘We have to go.’ He reached toward his bag of runes, only to discover it had been replaced with a slip of paper.

 

With a frown, he pulled off the paper, and it read this simply:

 

**It wouldn’t be a very fair game if you had those magic rocks, now would it?**

**-Loki**

 

Hearth’s eyes widened as it struck him; they’d have to find another way out of here. Unless… No, that wouldn’t work.

 

He looked back to Blitzen to see his eyes had become unfocused again, as he cringed harshly.

 

Hearth pressed his lips together. He pulled his friend’s chin up to look at him.

 

The dwarf looked to be concentrating very hard on keeping eye contact, before Hearth started signing again. ‘ _ R-A-T-A-T-O-S-K lies. _ ’ He pointed out firmly. 

 

Blitz’s eyes diverted behind the elf, and his expression morphed into fear. Before Hearth could react he felt a searing pain down his back.

 

Blitz caught him before he could fall down, sliding him along the branch and away.

 

Now they were in immediate danger.

 

Hearth had no choice. He’d been practicing with runeless magic, and though he wasn’t very good at it, he was fairly certain he should be able to open a hole to a random world, though he wasn’t quite sure where they’d end up…

 

Hearth could feel the branch sway as his friend tried to stave off the squirrel. He took a breath, concentrating. He mouthed the name of the rune, picturing it in his mind, and closed his eyes.

 

He felt the effect of the spell immediately, wanting to pass out. He managed to catch himself, barely avoiding slipping off the slender round branches into the Ginnungagap.

 

He turned around to see Blitz hadn’t even noticed, and was hugging his knees to his chest as the squirrel sniffed him inquisitively, as if not sure how to react. It kept opening it’s mouth though, and whenever it did, Blitz visibly tensed.

 

Hearth grabbed his friend’s hand and Blitz looked caught off guard, and the squirrel looked enraged as he pulled himself and his friend through the now closing portal.

 

Unfortunately, Hearthstone didn’t manage to stay conscious long enough to figure out where they’d landed.


	2. Chapter Two: Jotunheim Is The Best, Isn't It?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well spoiler alert; they're in Jotunheim. Loki realizes he's overestimated their abilities, as he's going off of Magnus' descriptions.

When he did come to, he felt awful.

 

He was freezing, and soaking wet. He blinked slowly, starting to understand he was surrounded by snow.

 

Suddenly he realized; he couldn’t see Blitzen. He sat up, which was a mistake, because as soon as he did, his head throbbed even more horribly.

 

Hearth fought back panic as he struggled to stand, before he felt a rough hand on his shoulder.

 

He just about died when Blitz came around in front of him shaking his head. ‘ _ Don’t try to stand up, stupid. _ ’ he signed quickly, giving him a slight teasing smile.

 

Hearth collapsed back down to his knees, releif flooding through him. ‘ _ You scared me on the tree. _ ’ Hearth signed back, as his releif was replaced with worry. ‘ _ Are you okay? _ ’

 

Blitz’s expression softened. ‘ _ I’m fine, _ ’ he assured him. ‘ _ You’re not. _ ’ He added, worry returning to his expression.  ‘ _ How do you feel? _ ’ 

 

Hearth gave him a look. ‘ _ I’m fine. _ ’ He insisted. ‘ _ Where are we? _ ’ The elf suddenly wondered.

 

‘ _ J-O-T-U-N-H-E-I-M _ .’ He spelled out. 

 

Hearth allowed a distasteful expression to cross his face, before he noticed someone standing behind Blitz.

 

His expression must’ve said enough, because Blitz looked over to see that Loki had returned.

 

Hearth signed some very obscene things he knew the god coudn’t understand.

 

Blitz said something out loud, and Loki laughed. “Looks as though you’ve encountered a minor… Setback,” He wiped a flake of snow from his shoulder. “Suppose you  _ will _ need these back?” 

 

He pulled Hearth’s rune pouch out of the air, tossing it so it landed in the snow, less than a foot from the elf.

 

“Shame,” He contemplated. “I overestimated you two. If you want to see your friend, you’ve got an hour to make it to the next part of the game. To begin the next level is simple; all you have to do is make it back to Boston. You’ll go back to the apartment, and open your store back up as if nothing has happened.”

 

Blitz said something else, and Loki made a mock offended face. “I am a man of my word, dear Blitzen.” He smirked. “Besides, there wouldn’t be a game if I already killed him. That would be boring.”

 

With that, he was gone.

 

Hearth stared at the spilled pouch.

 

Blitz waved a hand in front of his face for his attention. ‘ _ Do not even think about it. _ ’ He signed.

 

Hearth frowned. ‘ _ We have to get back to the shop. _ ’ He pointed out.

 

Blitz shook his head. ‘ _ If you do magic right now, it could kill you. _ ’

 

Hearth adjusted so he was sitting cross legged, feeling only now that his back was bandaged roughly, wincing at the pain.

 

‘ _ My point exactly. _ ’ Blitz didn’t look smug though, he looked worried. ‘ _ We will wait a bit. _ ’

 

Hearth’s expression darkened. ‘ _ We do not have a bit. We need to get to Magnus. _ ’ He pointed out.

 

Blitz clenched his jaw. ‘ _ We won’t be much use to him if you are dead. _ ’ The dwarf signed, annoyed.

 

Hearth shook his head. ‘ _ I’ll be fine. _ ’ He reached toward the spilled runes, and Blitz grabbed his wrist.

 

As soon as he touched him, Hearth flinched away. Regret was clear across the dwarf’s face, but he didn’t let go until he’d moved the runes out of his reach.

 

When he did let go, Hearth’s expression had changed to one of discomfort, and while Blitz felt bad, he couldn’t let him use magic. ‘ _ We can wait a short time.’  _ He insisted, moving back to change the bandaging on Hearth’s back. 

 

A thought occurred to the elf, and he grabbed Blitz’s wrist to get his attention before he could move all the way back behind him. When Blitz looked to him, he signed, ‘ _ Bandages? _ ’ In the hopes his friend would know what he was asking.

 

Blitz’s mouth seemed to twitch upward. ‘ _ Coat. _ ’ He signed, pointing to what was left of the overcoat he’d been wearing.

 

Hearthstone knew his friend had really liked that coat, as his brow moved into a frown as Blitz continued behind him.

 

He felt warm air on his ear and turned to see Blitz continuing about the bandages like nothing had happened, but Hearth couldn’t help but wonder what he’d said. 

 

**\-----**

 

The two didn’t speak for a few minutes, which allowed Hearth’s mind to wander. Sitting the way he was for as long as he had, he’d melted some of the snow and the seat of his pants was wet, the icy wind leaving him extremely cold.

 

He adjusted so he could see where Blitz sat, about five feet away, tinkering with something Hearth couldn’t see.

 

Chewing his lip, the elf glanced between his friend and the bag of runes now behind him.

 

With an eyeroll, he reached to grab the bag, fastening it to his belt. He knew, despite Blitz’s worrying, that the cuts on his back weren’t that bad.

 

The obviously weren’t deep, as he wasn’t in ridiculous amounts of pain, and he hadn’t bled that much, since there was only a slight green tint to the snow where he’d slept.

 

He watched the shorter man, innocent curiosity in his gaze, as he messed with a small contraption, his back to the elf.

 

His mind was naturally prone to wandering though.

 

He blinked, suddenly realizing it might be strange if Blitzen looked to see him just staring. He diverted his gaze, wondering if he really  _ would _ mind. They were friends, right? It wasn’t that weird for him to simply  _ look _ at his best friend.

 

So he returned to watching him, his hands in his lap, as he thought.

 

This could be nice. He often caught himself watching Blitz. He’d be designing in his shop, and Hearth would just watch his creative mind at work as he muttered and wandered around, comparing fabrics to one another. It was quite interesting to watch, the way he would start to ponder something and then scold himself quietly, returning to wandering around...

 

Hearth jumped slightly when he realized Blitzen had met his gaze. He didn’t know how long he’d been looking, so he just waved awkwardly. He also realized he had a stupid half smile on his face, which faded quickly as he fought the heat rising to his cheeks. ‘ _ What are you working on? _ ’ He decided to change the subject.

 

Blitz seemed to turn a little pink, shaking his head. ‘ _ Nothing, just messing with the snow. _ ’ 

 

Hearth raised an eyebrow. ‘ _ But what did you do with it? _ ’ He asked, gesturing to the indents he could see in the snow behind his friend.

 

Blitz raised a hand to the back of his neck. ‘ _ I made a duck. _ ’ He admitted.

 

Hearth nodded slowly. That made sense. 

 

Blitz moved toward him, so he was sitting in front of the elf, probably about two feet away, though Hearth desperately wished he was closer.

 

The shorter man seemed to be studying him, as if seeing him for the first time. ‘ _ Are you sure you are okay? _ ’ He asked.

 

Hearth frowned. ‘ _ Yes. Why do you ask? _ ’ 

 

Blitz looked unconvinced, but shrugged. ‘ _ No reason. _ ’

 

Hearth closed his eyes for a moment, knowing they needed to go. ‘ _ We need to go back to the shop. We need to find M-A-G-N-U-S. _ ’ 

 

Blitz seemed to deflate slightly. ‘ _ No. You can’t use magic right now. _ ’ He seemed to have resigned at this point though.

 

Hearth watched him for a moment, until Blitz met his eyes. While they held eye contact, he reached into his pouch, feeling around for the proper rune.

 

He didn’t break eye contact as he pulled out the one he needed. He held eye contact until he actually needed to cast it.

 

He pulled himself up, forcing himself not to wobble or look as nauseous as he felt, as he cast the rune. He braced himself for the backlash, his knees nearly giving out beneath him, but he caught himself, blinking the blackness out of his vision.

 

Blitz motioned Hearth to go through the portal first, not letting him out of his sight, at least until he got some sunlight.

 


End file.
